A Dictionary of the English Language
                        A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson
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Covet (verb active)

View Scan · View Transcription · from page 487

View Scan · View Transcription · from page 487

To Cóvet. v.a. [convoiter, French.]

  1. To desire inordinately; to desire beyond due bounds.

                If it be a sin to covet honour,
    I am the most offending man alive.     Shakespeare's Henry V.

                                I am yet
    Unknown to woman, never was forsworn,
    Scarcely have coveted what was mine own,
    at no time broke my faith.     Shakespeare's Macbeth.

    O father! can it be that souls sublime,
    Return to visit our terrestrial clime?
    And that the gen'rous mind, releas'd by death,
    Can covet lazy limbs and mortal breath?     Dryden's Æn.

  2. To desire earnestly.

    But covet earnestly the best gifts. 1 Cor. xii. 31.

Sources: The Bible - 1. Corinthians (15) · Dryden, John (788) · Shakespeare's Henry V (66) · Shakespeare's Macbeth (136)

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Cite this page: Johnson, Samuel. "Covet (verb active)." A Dictionary of the English Language: A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson. Edited by Brandi Besalke. Last modified: November 26, 2012. https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/covet-verb-active/.

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